Category Archives: Lance Corporal

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, Hampshire Regiment, history, illness, India, Lance Corporal, photography, Private, story, Sussex, war

Private Joseph Walls

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Private Joseph Walls

Joseph Walls was born in Tortington, near Arundel, in West Sussex, on 13th November 1880. The youngest of four children, his parents were gamekeeper James Walls and his wife Annie. James moved the family to where his work took him and, by the time of the 1891 census, they had settled in the New Forest village of Sway, Hampshire.

When Joseph finished his schooling, he found work as a horseman and groom. The 1901 census found him living with his parents and older sister in a house in Brockenhurst. He seems to have taken his work seriously, and soon found himself a position as a chauffeur. The next census, taken in 1911, recorded him as working for Ann Libbey and her family in the village of Boldre.

On 18th February 1914, Joseph married Edith Perry. A carpenter’s daughter, she was working as a domestic servant when the couple exchanged vows. Their wedding certificate confirms that Joseph was ten years his new wife’s senior, and that they ceremony was witnessed by his older brother Frederick and her younger sister, Esther.

Joseph and Edith would go on to have two children: Vera was born in 1915, while Daphne came along three years later. During this time, however, war was raging across Europe, and Joseph had stepped up to play his part.

Private Walls enlisted within weeks of war being declared, on 10th December 1914. His service papers show that he was living at Hospital Cottage in Lyndhurst when he joined up. He was 5ft 8ins (1.72m) tall, with black hair, grey eyes and a dark complexion. He was also noted as being asthmatic since he was a child.

Assigned to the 1st/4th Battalion of the Hampshire Regiment, over the next few years, Private Wallis would see the world. Within days of enlisting, he was shipped out to India, where he would spend nearly three years (apart from the in the summer of 1917, when he served as part of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force). During this time, Joseph was promoted to Lance Corporal, although by the time he left the army, he had returned to the tank of Private.

By the beginning of September 1917, Joseph was back on home soil. A spell of malaria that spring had impacted his asthma, and at the end of November, he was deemed no longer fit for war service. Private Walls was medically discharged from the army on 29th November 1917.

At this point, Joseph’s trail goes cold. He definitely returned home – Daphne was born just a few days after the Armistice – but it is unclear whether he was it enough to work.

Joseph Walls died on 14th February 1919: he was 38 years of age. He was laid to rest in Lyndhurst Cemetery, not far from where Edith and their children lived.

Private Joseph Walls
(from ancestry.co.uk)
Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, injury, Lance Corporal, photography, Private, Scotland, story, Suffolk, war, West Midlands

Corporal Stanley Vinton

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Corporal Stanley Vinton

Stanley William Vinton was born on 30th April 1898 in Dartmouth, Devon. The second of eight children, his parents were William and Kate. William was an outfitter’s assistant, and by the time of the 1911 census, the family of ten were living in a four-roomed cottage on South Ford Road.

When he finished his schooling, Stanley was apprenticed to a shipwright. Away from work, he volunteered with the Dartmouth Cadet Company, and was drawn towards an army career. On 25th May 1914, he enlisted, joining the 7th (Cyclist) Battalion of the Devonshire Regiment. His service records show that he gave his age as 17 years and four months old. He was 5ft 6.5ins (1.69m) tall, and weighed 154lbs (69.9kg). Private Vinton was of good physical development and had good eyesight.

Stanley was formally mobilised on 5th August 1914. He remained on home soil for the next three years, primarily because soldiers were unable to fight on the Western Front until they turned 19 years of age. During this time, he appears to have impressed his superiors: in July 1916 he was promoted to Lance Corporal, and just four months later he rose to full Corporal.

In July 1917, Stanley’s chance to see some action arrived, when he was posted to the 2nd Battalion, and sent overseas. This move came with a caveat, however, and he reverted to the rank of Private. It was a challenging time for the regiment, and Stanley quickly found himself in the thick of it at Passchendaele.

On 30th November 1917, after four months on the Western Front, Private Vinton’s luck came to end. Caught up in the fighting, he was wounded in his left thigh by shrapnel and the fingers of his left hand by a gun shot wound. He was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment, and admitted to the Edinburgh War Hospital in Bangour.

Thankfully, the injury to Stanley’s hand was minimal, but his leg took longer to heal, and he remained in hospital for more than two months. When he was discharged, Private Vinton was transferred to the regiment’s command depot in Sutton Coldfield. In March 1918, he was promoted to Corporal, but his injured leg was still causing him discomfort. In the end, he was reassigned to a munitions works in Lowestoft, Suffolk, and this is where he would spend the remainder of the year.

Stanley’s constitution was weakened by this point, and that winter, he contracted influenza. The condition was to prove fatal, and he passed away on 2nd December 1918. He was just 20 years of age.

The body of Stanley William Vinton was taken back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Clement’s Church, Dartmouth, high above the town’s centre, but within walking distance of his grieving family’s home.

Commonwealth War Graves, Egypt, Essex, Great War, Greece, history, illness, injury, Lance Corporal, Middlesex, New Zealand, New Zealand Otago Regiment, photography, Private, story, war, Wiltshire

Private James McLeod

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Private James McLeod

James McLeod was born on 15th April 1893 in Dunedin, New Zealand. There is little further information about his early life, although the Commonwealth War Graves Commission give his father’s name as Samuel, and his service records note his next-of-kin as his brother, George McLeod.

James was employed by A&T Watt as a French polisher. However, he gave that up on 25th January 1915, when he enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. His service records show that he was 5ft 8.5ins (1.74m) tall, and weighed 166lbs (75.3kg). He was recorded a having fair hair, blue eyes and a fair complexion.

Private McLeod was assigned to the New Zealand Otago Regiment, and undertook his initial training on home soil. He evidently showed some promise as, on 1st May, he was promoted to Lance Corporal. Six weeks later his unit was heading for Europe, and by the summer James was in Egypt.

On 20th August 1915, Private McLeod was admitted to the New Zealand and Australian Convalescent Hospital in Mena with a gun shot wound to his finger. He remained there for three weeks, returning to his unit in time for them to leave for the Dardanelles on 7th November 1915.

What happened to James over the next couple of months is uncertain. Certainly he was on the Greek island of Moudros by 18th November and in the Dardanelles on 7th December 1915. Just 20 days later he was back in Alexandria, and he would remain there for the next few months. There is, however, nothing in his medical record to suggest that his return to Egypt was on health reasons.

On 6th April 1916, Private McLeod was on the move again, this time to France. He was wounded again on 14th July 1916, and medically evacuated to Britain for treatment. Details of this injury are not clear, but he was admitted to the 2nd London General Hospital in Chelsea, Middlesex. After a month recuperating, James was released from hospital and sent to camp in Hornchurch, Essex. At this point he was also demoted to Private, although, again, the reason is unclear: it may have been a personal choice, or the reversion may have been connected to his injuries.

In September 1916, Private McLeod was transferred to the ANZAC Camp on the outskirts of Codford, Wiltshire. That winter he contracted pleurisy, and he was admitted to the No. 3 New Zealand Hospital, which was connected to the camp, on Christmas Day. His condition worsened, and James passed away from pneumonia on 28th December 1916. He was just 23 years of age.

Thousands of miles from home, James McLeod was laid to rest alongside his fellow soldiers in the extension to the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, Codford.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, Labour Corps, Lance Corporal, London, Middlesex, photography, Private, story, Surrey, war

Corporal Alexander Sturrock

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Corporal Alexander Sturrock

Alexander Albert Sturrock was born in the autumn of 1877. The second of two children, he was the only son of Alexander and Elizabeth Sturrock. Alexander Sr was a plasterer from Scotland, while his wife had been born in Bristol. It was in the Pimlico area of Middlesex, however, that the couple would raise their two children: Alexander and his older sister Eleanor.

The 1891 census found the family living at 253 Wellington Buildings, on Ebury Bridge Road. According to the next census, however, they had taken rooms at 52 Warriner Gardens, south of the Thames in Battersea.

By 1901, the Sturrocks had moved north again, and were living at 7 Fulham Place in Paddington. One of three families in the house, Alexander Sr and Elizabeth shared the rooms with their son and Eleanor’s son, Leslie. Alexander Sr was still working as a plasterer, while his son was now employed as a clerk.

Alexander Jr married Edith Concanen in 1910. A widow, she had a son, Douglas, and the three of them lived in her family home on Camden Road, Sutton, Surrey. Alexander was working as a commercial accountant, and at some point in the next five years, the family moved to Paignton, Devon.

When war came to Europe, Alexander stepped up to play his part. He enlisted in Exeter on 17th November 1915, and joined the Devonshire Regiment. His service records note that he was 5ft 11ins (1.8m) tall and weighed 185lbs (83.9kg). He was also recorded as having Edith’s name tattooed on his left forearm.

Private Sturrock was mobilised the following June, and was attached the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion. He was promoted to Lance Corporal in August 1916, and transferred to the 8th (Service) Battalion. Shipped to France in December, he would spend the next eighteen months overseas.

Alexander had ongoing issues with his health, however, and was hospitalised at least three times with diarrhoea. In July 1918, he was transferred to the Labour Corps, and reassigned to home soil. Promoted to Corporal by this point, he was attached to the 114th unit, although it is unclear where he served.

Corporal Sturrock’s health continued to dog him. The Armistice signed, he was medically discharged with nephritis on 14th June 1919, and returned home. Sadly, his reunion with Edith was not to be a lengthy one. Alexander passed away on 25th July 1919: he was 41 years of age.

Alexander Albert Sturrock was laid to rest in Paignton Cemetery, overlooking the town he had most recently called home.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Egypt, Essex, Great War, history, illness, injury, Lance Corporal, New Zealand, New Zealand Otago Regiment, photography, Private, story, war, West Midlands, Wiltshire

Corporal Ronald Dumbleton

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Corporal Ronald Dumbleton

Ronald Dumbleton was born in Pukeuri Junction, New Zealand, at the end of 1890. His parents were William and Lucy, but about his early life, there is very little information.

When he finished his schooling, found work as a telegraphist and, by the time war broke out, he was employed at the Oamaru Post Office. This employment fitted in perfectly with his hobby as a volunteer in the Signal Company.

Ronald enlisted in the Otago Regiment of the New Zealand Infantry on 13th June 1915. His service records show that he was 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall and weighed 140lbs (63.5kg). An Anglican by faith, he had black hair, dark eye and a dark complexion.

Assigned to the 7th Battalion, Private Dumbleton’s unit set sail for Europe towards the end of the year and, after a few weeks in Egypt, Ronald arrived in Britain in March 1916. His previous military service stood him in good stead. On 8th July 1915 he was promoted to Lance Corporal, and just six weeks later he had made full Corporal.

In April 1916, Ronald arrived in France. Transferred to the 1st Battalion, he would remain overseas for six months. Caught up in the fighting at the Somme, he was injured in his left arm and shoulder and medically evacuated to Britain for treatment. Corporal Dumbleton was admitted to the 1st Southern General Hospital in Birmingham, and remained there for a month.

In November, Corporal Dumbleton transferred to a hospital in Hornchurch, Essex. He then seems to have been moved to the ANZAC base near Codford, Wiltshire, for his ongoing recuperation. He was given two weeks’ leave in January 1917, returning to the base towards the end of the month.

At this point, Ronald’s trail goes cold. He remained based in Codford, possibly as he was not yet fit enough to re-join his unit on the Western Front. While in camp, however, he fell ill, passing away on 5th April 1917. He was 26 years of age.

Thousands of miles from home, Ronald Dumbleton’s body was laid to rest in the extended graveyard of St Mary’s Church in Codford, not far form the base which he had called home.

Corporal Ronald Dumbleton
(from findagrave.com)
Colour Sergeant, Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, Kent, Lance Corporal, London, Middlesex, photography, Royal Marines, Sergeant, story, war

Colour Sergeant Charles Miles

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Colour Sergeant Charles Miles

The early life of Charles Miles, whose body lies at rest in the Woodlands Cemetery in Gillingham, Kent, is a challenge to unpick, and the starting point is the last document relating to him.

His military Pension Ledger confirms that he died on 13th May 1918, from empyema, a bacterial infection affecting the lungs. The document cites his next-of-kin as Miss Hilda Miles, of 15 St John’s Road in Gillingham. She is noted as being the guardian of two children – Ada, born in 1905, and George, born the following year – because their mother, Charles’ wife, had passed away on 30th May 1912.

An online search for Ada and George gives an entry in the 1911 census. This finds them as the youngest two of six children to Charles and Elizabeth Miles. The document also gives a clue about their future guardian, Hilda: she is their older sister.

The Miles family were living at 45 Commercial Street in Whitechapel, East London. Charles, at 39, was recorded as a Royal Marines Pensioner and schoolkeeper. His wife, Elizabeth, was assisting with this role, and the couple had two other surviving children, Charles Jr and Walter.

While it is still difficult to piece together Charles’ childhood, his Royal Marine service records do shed a little light onto it. Born in Hampstead on 23rd November 1871, he was working as an ironmonger’s assistant when he enlisted. He joined up on 23rd August 1889, the document showing that he was 5ft 6ins (1.68m) tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. He also had a tattoo on his right forearm.

Private Miles had joined up in London but, as with most Royal Marine recruits, he was sent to the base in Walmer, Kent, for his initial training. In the spring of 1890 he moved to the Royal Naval Dockyard in Chatham, Kent, and this would become his regular port for the remainder of his service.

Charles’ service proved to be a committed one. Over the next decade he would serve on five ships, and would rise through the ranks. In October 1894 he was promoted to Lance Corporal, making full Corporal less than a year later. On 1st January 1899 he was promoted to Sergeant, and by the start of 1908, he held the rank of Colour Sergeant. Formally stood down to reserve status on 22nd November 1910, he was noted as having a very good character.

Away from the service, there is no record for Charles and Elizabeth’s marriage. She had been born in Sheerness, Kent, and was a year younger than her husband. It is likely that they were married by 1897, as this is when their oldest child was born. The 1901 census recorded them living on Manor Street in Gillingham, but, once Charles had been stood down, the school keeper’s position in the East End came up.

When war broke out, Charles was called upon to play his part once more. He returned to Chatham, leaving his younger children in Hilda’s care. By September 1914 he had moved to HMS Victory, the Royal Naval Dockyard in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and he would remain there for the next eighteen months. His shore base and naval experience suggest that, at 43 years of age, his was more of a training or mentoring role, although there is nothing in his records to confirm this.

In February 1916, Colour Sergeant Miles returned once more to Chatham, and the naval base there would be his home for the next few years. He was admitted to the Royal Naval Hospital in the spring of 1918, and passed away from the infection on 13th May 1918. He was 46 years old.

Charles Miles was laid to rest in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham.

After their father’s death, the Miles siblings found their own way in life.

By the time of the 1921 census, Ada, now 16 years old, was working as a domestic servant for Henry Chapman, a ship’s surveyor, and his family. They were living at 73 Milton Street in Fleetwood, a short stroll from the Lancashire coast.

Hilda, into whose care Charles had given his youngest children, was now 22 years of age. She had married William Swift, a pattern maker for the Admiralty, in the summer of 1918. They would not have any children, and the 1921 census found the couple living at 15 Milner Road, Gillingham. She too was just a short walk from the shoreline, but was also within walking distance from the cemetery in which her father had been buried.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, Lance Corporal, photography, Private, Somerset, Somerset Light Infantry, story, Suffolk, war

Lance Corporal Alfred King

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Lance Corporal Alfred King

Alfred Frederick King was born at the start of 1897, and was the oldest of two children to Alfred and Mary. Alfred Sr was an army pensioner-turned-carman, and both he and his wife were born in Bath, Somerset. By the time of the 1911 census, the family of four were living at 31 Avondale Road, in the Walcot area of the city.

Alfred Jr had completed his schooling by this point, and was working as an errand boy. War was not far off, however, and it would result in the ultimate sacrifice for the King family.

Alfred Sr enlisted in the Somerset Light Infantry in September 1914, but was deemed not fit for service, as he was suffering from chronic stomach issues. This may have prompted his son to join up, and he did so in October 1915.

Sadly, Alfred Jr’s full service details no longer remain, but from what is left, it is clear that he joined the Somerset Light Infantry, and was assigned to the 8th (Service) Battalion. His unit was sent to France, and he would spend the rest of the year on the Western Front.

Private King was involved in a number of skirmishes in the coming months, and soon gained a promotion to the rank of Lance Corporal. In late January or early February 1916, he was wounded, and medically evacuated to Britain. He was admitted to the East Suffolk Hospital in Ipswich, but his injuries would prove too great: he passed away on 22nd February 1916, at the age of just 19 years old.

Alfred Frederick King’s body was taken back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in the sweeping grounds of Bath’s Locksbrook Cemetery.

Alfred Sr would be buried alongside his son. You can read more about his life here.

Coldstream Guards, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, photography, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire

Lance Corporal William Bence

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Lance Corporal William Bence

Arthur William Bence was born in the village of Box, Wiltshire, in the spring of 1887. The oldest of eight children, his parents were James and Sarah. James was an engineer from Bathampton, Somerset, and by the time of the 1901 census, the young family had moved to 14 Hampton Row in nearby Bathwick.

Ten years later, and the Bence family had relocated again, this time to the northern outskirts of Bath, in a terraced cottage at 6 Brooklyn Road. By this point, Arthur had finished his schooling, and had found employment, working as a baker and bread maker. This was not to be a permanent career, however, and he sought out more of a career.

Arthur had long been a volunteer in the local militia, and on 14th November 1905 he enlisted in the army. Now known by his middle name, William Bence joined the Coldstream Guards as a Private. His service records show that he was 5ft 11ins (1.82m) tall, and weighed 148lbs (67.1kg). He was noted as having brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. Hs also had several tattoos on his left forearm, including a heart, cross, anchor, man’s face, crown and crossed flags.

Private Bence spent the first two years of his military career on home soil in Windsor, Berkshire, and London. In January 1908, his unit – the 3rd Battalion – transferred to Africa, and William would remain in Egypt and Sudan for more than three years. In March 1911 he returned to home soil, and that year’s census record noted his address as the Tower of London.

By the end of 1913 Private Bence had been formally stood down to reserve status. During his eight years on active service, he had been hospitalised a couple of times: for a sprained wrist in 1906, and for a bout of pneumonia in July 1910.

War was a matter of months away, however, and in the summer of 1914, William was to be mobilised again. By 12th August he was sent to France, and his battalion would be caught up at Marne and Aisne before the end of the year.

On 27th September 1914, William rose to the rank of Lance Corporal. This was not to last, however, and within six weeks the promotion was retracted for misconduct. He remained on the Western Front for nearly two and a half years, and had a mixed time of it. In April 1915, he Private Bence was confined to barracks for 14 days for being drunk on duty. In November that year, he was promoted to Lance Corporal for a second time.

This advancement coincided with William’s marriage. He had wed Amelia Oakley at St Saviour’s Church in Bath on 3rd November. There is little information available about her, other than that she had been born in Bath in 1888.

Back in France, and Lance Corporal Bence’s battalion fought at Loos and was heavily involved at the Somme. William would remain on the Western Front until December 1916, at which point his health forced him back to Britain. He had contracted tuberculosis, and this would lead to his ultimate discharge from military duty on 9th January 1917. William returned home, but his condition was to get worse. He passed away on 1st April 1917: he was 30 years of age.

The body of Arthur William Bence was laid to rest in the sweeping grounds of Bath’s Locksbrook Cemetery, in the city that was his home.

Commonwealth War Graves, Corporal, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, Lance Serjeant, photography, Private, story, war

Lance Serjeant Ralph Page

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Lance Serjeant Ralph Page

Ralph William Page was born in the autumn of 1889, and was the second of five children to William and Elizabeth. William was a brush maker from London, but the family were initially born and brought up in Ottery St Mary, Devon.

By the time of the 1901 census, the family had upped sticks and relocated to Kilmington, near Axminster. Three of the family – William, Elizabeth and Ralph’s older sister Ethel – were all working in bone brush making, William as a maker, and his wife and daughter as drawers.

Ralph initially followed in the family trade, but this was not to be enough for him. He was already volunteering for the Devonshire Regiment, and he took the opportunity to join full-time. He enlisted on 11th September 1907. His service records show that he was exactly 18 years of age, and that he had black hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. Ralph stood 5ft 4ins (1.62m) tall and weighed 10st 9lbs (67.6kg).

Private Page initially enlisted for five years on active service. During that time he remained on home soil and, by the autumn of 1911, he was promoted to Lance Corporal. The following spring, he extended his term of service, in advance of being placed on reserve status later in 1912.

Away from army life, romance had also blossomed. On 2nd September 1912, he married Beatrice White at St Mary’s Church in Axminster. She was the daughter of a carpenter, who had also follower her widowed mother into lacemaking. The couple would go on to have three children: Florence, Ralph and Frederick. A fourth child, Peggy, passed away when she was just a matter of weeks old.

When war was declared in the summer of 1914, Ralph was sent with his unit – the 1st Battalion – to France. He saw action at Mons, Messines and Armentières in the next few months alone. In October, Ralph was promoted to Acting Corporal, and just two months later he was made Acting Serjeant.

In March 1915, things seem to have changed for Ralph. He was transferred to a Depot unit on home soil, and reduced in rank to Private. Nothing in his service records suggests any misdemeanour leading to his transfer.

Private Page remined on home soil until the end of 1916. Attached to the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, he made his way back up through the ranks again, and was a Corporal by the time he was reassigned to the 2nd Battalion and sent off to France once again that December.

Ralph was to be firmly entrenched on the Western Front over the next five months. It was during the German retreat back to the Hindenburg Line in the spring of 1917 that he received the injury that would remove him from the war. On 23rd April, the now Lance Serjeant Page was shot in the abdomen. He was medically evacuated to Britain for treatment, and did slowly recover. Ralph’s need for an abdominal belt meant that he was no longer fit to serve and he was ultimately discharged from the army on 29th November 1917.

Ralph returned home to Devon, but the war had taken its toll on his health. When pandemic spread around the world as the conflict drew to a close, he was to succumb. He passed away from a combination of the influenza and pneumonia on 5th November 1918, at the age of 29 years old.

Ralph William Page was laid to rest in Axminster Cemetery, Devon, not far from where his widow and children lived.

Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Devonshire Regiment, Great War, history, illness, Lance Corporal, photography, Private, story, war

Lance Corporal John Channing

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Lance Corporal John Channing

John Samuel Channing was born in Axminster, Devon, in 1884, the oldest of four children to John and Elizabeth. John Sr was a bricklayer’s labourer, and, when Elizabeth died in the late 1890s, he struggled to look after the whole family.

The 1901 census found John Sr and his two youngest children living with his widowed mother, while John Jr and his sister Sarah were sent to live with their maternal grandmother, widow Mary Telford. Both were of age to leave school, and both were employed: Sarah as a lace mender, John Jr as a nail brush finisher.

John Jr married a woman called Elizabeth in 1910. There is little additional information available about her, but by the time of the following year’s census, the young couple were boarding with an Eliza Banks in Silver Street, close to the centre of the town. John was employed as a toilet brush maker, adding that they were bone nailbrushes. Within the year, Elizabeth gave birth to their only child, son Leslie.

In addition to his brushwork, John had also enlisted in the local militia. He joined the Devonshire Regiment on 1st April 1908, although his service details are lost to time. Private Channing’s unit – the 4th Battalion – were based around Exeter, but, when war was declared, they moved to India. There is no evidence, however, that John went with them: promoted to the rank of Lance Corporal, it is likely that his experience was better used on the Home Front, training new recruits.

John’s wartime experience was not to be a lengthy one, however. By 1st April 1915, he had been medically discharged from service, having contracted tuberculosis. At this point, Lance Corporal Channing’s trail goes cold, but it is likely that he returned home to Elizabeth and Leslie.

The next record for John is that of his passing. He died from tuberculosis at home on 29th December 1918: he was 34 years of age.

John Samuel Channing was laid to rest in Axminster Cemetery, a short walk from where his widow and son still lived.